It's Geek to Us: 2025 Nerd Event Calendar for Colorado

With Denver's first major nerd-event already in the rear-view (Retromania rocked out Longmont on January 25), pop-culture collectors, cosplayers, gamers of all types, and lovers of the horror, the sci-fi, the fantasy and more will want to mark more events on their Marvel calendar (the vintage one from 1975 with the same dates as 2025, naturally).

What follows is a month-by-month breakdown of 2025's schedule of organized geekery. Get your costumes together, choose which set of dice you'll put in your Crown Royal bag, and scrape together all the hobby mad money you can. Lay in supplies. Make some Lembas bread. It's going to be a trek.

GenghisCon
February 20-23
Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center
13200 East 14th Place, Aurora
Badges $5-75
Celebrating its 47th iteration, Ghengis Con isn't just Colorado's pre-eminent tabletop gaming gathering — it's also a proud, woman-owned business. Owner Andre'a Arnold likes to call GhengisCon "not just an event—it's an adventure!" And its many devotees agree, filling the Hyatt Regency with cries of nat-20s and strategic card-flips and the general huzzahs of gamers enjoying the game. For tickets and more info, check the GhengisCon website.
Colorado Anime Fest
March 21-23
Denver Marriott Tech Center
4900 South Syracuse Street
Weekend passes $55
Smashing into the convention scene back in 2016, Colorado Anime Fest was founded by a group of friends with decades of combined experience in the hobby, having also run dozens of events across the country. Special guests for 2025 are already being announced: Kayli Mills (Genshin Impact, NIKKE, Sword Art Online, Re:Zero and Welcome to Demon School: Iruma-kun) and Sarah Wiedenheft (Chainsaw Man, Dragon Ball Super, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Honkai: Star Rail and My Hero Academia, to name only a few). Early-bird tickets are already sold out, but weekend passes are still available starting at $55, $25 for kids 7-12. More info is available on the Colorado Anime Fest website.

SCG CON Denver
April 11-13
Colorado Convention Center
700 14th Street
Free
One of the Denver area's first collectible card-gaming events comes to the Colorado Convention Center, with focused events devoted to Magic: The Gathering, Flesh & Blood, Disney's Lorcana and Star Wars Unlimited. There'll be a vendor floor, custom attractions and lots of game-play. Special guests have yet to be announced, but fans can keep an eye on the SCG website for more information as it becomes available.
Toy & Doll Supershow
April 13
National Western Hall of Education
4655 Humboldt Street
$10 admission
The super-popular Toy & Doll Supershow moves to new digs in 2025 — the National Western Complex, large enough to hold all the awesome goodness from not only Toy & Doll, but also sister shows Vintage Voltage and Colorado Guitar, all under one roof. There are always surprises at the Toy & Doll show; tickets are $10 online or at the door, or $15 if you want to get in an hour before the rest of the crowds. Kids ten and under are free; so is parking. For more information, see the Supershow website.
​Aurora Retromania
May 17-18
Arapahoe County Fairgrounds Event Center
​25690 East Quincy Avenue, Aurora
$10 until 5/15, $15 tickets thereafter
If the January Retromania show whet your vintage whistle, you've got another shot at even more awesomeness at the Aurora version of the show. Enjoy a huge vendor floor filled with toys, comics, games, video games, apparel, original art and more. If you want to get a jump on other collectors, you can pay $15 to get in early ($25 after 5/15). For more info, see the Retromania website.

Rocky Mountain Con Comic Collectors Showcase
May 31-June 1
Embassy Suites Denver Central Park
4444 Havana Street
$10 admission
Ever attend a "comic con" and wonder...where are the comics? RMC Comic Collector's Showcase answers that question: They're right here. Whether you're looking to buy, sell or trade your comics, this is an event for serious comic book collectors and enthusiasts. For more information, check out the RMC website — and also look into sister shows that embrace a more generalist collectors' aesthetic.
FAN EXPO Denver
July 3-6
Colorado Convention Center
700 14th Street
Weekend passes start at $99
If you have fond memories of Denver Comic Con or Denver Pop Culture Con, FAN EXPO is the event you're looking for, as both of those beloved events live on (sort of) here. This is Denver's largest nerd-con, taking up considerable real estate at the Colorado Convention Center over the July 4 weekend with a considerable volume of geeky goodness. Special guests are still TBA, but fans can keep checking the website for updates.

Nan Desu Kan
August 29-31
Gaylord Rockies Resort
6700 North Gaylord Rockies Boulevard, Aurora
$60 weekend pass advance price
NDK started in 1997 as a small anime festival at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria Campus. Since then, it's grown to the largest convention in thirteen surrounding states, excluding Texas. (And really, excluding Texas is sort of a hobby here in Denver.) At NDK, the love of the anime community isn’t just a marketing tool; rather, it's NDK's purpose for existing: to bring people together to further the knowledge of Japanese art, animation and culture. Tickets are currently $60 for a full-weekend pass, and individual day passes will become available in the weeks leading up to the event. For more information, see the Nan Desu Kan website.
Colorado Festival of Horror
September 12-14
Marriott Denver South at Park Meadows
10345 Park Meadows Drive, Lone Tree
$65 for a three-day pass through April 13
The Colorado Festival of Horror celebrates five years of Mile High macabre with a new theme: Monsters! The homegrown convention is the place to be for all things horror, with celebrity guests, spooky artists, frightening writers, scary vendors, horror films, a cosplay contest, a horror tattoo contest, horror trivia, karaoke and more freaky, frightening fun than fans can handle. This is an annual event that's been growing by leaps and bounds, and it comes back in 2025 at...dare we say it?...monstrous size. For more information, guest announcements and ticketing, see the COFOH website.

MileHiCon
October 31-November 2
Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center
13200 East 14th Place, Aurora
$51 weekend passes
One of the old-timers of Denver convention fun, MileHiCon is still going strong in its 57th year of celebrating the best in fantasy and sci-fi literature. The can't-miss convention features authors, artists, speakers and programming on every aspect of the science fiction, fantasy and speculative genres. Tickets for the weekend start at $51 for adults; teens 12-17 are half price ($25.50), and kids under 12 are free.  For more information, see the MileHiCon website.
DakuCon
November 14-16
Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center
13200 East 14th Place, Aurora
Weekend passes $45 through March 24
Denver's only 18+ convention experience is DakuCon, billed as a "refreshing local con that is reminiscent of cons long gone," before so much of the convention experience was specifically aimed for kids and families. Daku Con features a wide variety of topics centered on nerddom, including anime, comics, tabletop and video gaming and, yes, some 18+ content. Registration is $45 through March 24, or $50 thereafter for all-weekend access, and proof of age is required. For more information, see the event website.

DarknessCon Colorado
December 12-14
Embassy Suites Loveland Conference Center
4705 Clydesdale Pkwy, Loveland
Ticket prices TBA
DarknessCon Colorado held its first event at the end of 2024, and it was a smash, with 20,000 square feet of event space packed with everything fans love in horror and pop culture. There was everything you might expect from a show: jaw-dropping vendors, talented artists, captivating panels and mind-blowing cosplay. But DarknessCon also added spine-tingling "make and takes," electrifying concerts, mesmerizing drag shows and breathtaking live performances that leftfans awestruck. Ticket pricing and availability for the second annual con are still pending; keep an eye on the Denver DarknessCon website for details to rise from the shadows.

Did we forget your favorite event? Let us know at [email protected]!